Page 2 alphabetic indexing rules

Rule 1 indexing order of units a personal names a personal name is indexed in this manner one the surname last name is the key unit to the given name first name or initial is the second unit and three the middle name or initial is the third unit if determining the surname is difficult considering the last name written as the surname you will learn how to handle titles that appear with names in a later rule a unit consisting of just an initial procedure unit that consists of a complete name beginning with the same letter nothing before something Punctuation is omitted remember the underscored letter in the examples in the textbook shows the correct order B business names business names are indexed as written using letterheads or trademarks his guides each word in a business name as a separate unit business names containing personal names are indexed as written rule two minor words and symbols in business names articles prepositions conjunctions and symbols are considered separate indexing units symbols are considered as spelled in full when the word appears as the word of a business name it is considered the last indexing unit articles and the prepositions at in out on off by 2 with 4 all over conjunctions and but or nor symbols Ampersand Cent dollar sign pound percent and sent or $6 or dollars number or pound percent rule 3 punctuation and possessives all Punctuation is disregarded when indexing personal and business names comma periods hyphens apostrophes dashes exclamation points question marks quotation marks underscores and diagonals are disregarded and names are indexed as written